The invention relates to solubilized forskolin (hereafter CHRL-1 being forskolin in solubilized form as described herein), and to its preparation. It further relates to pharmaceutical compositions containing such solubilized forskolin ingredient (i.e. CHRL-1).
Forskolin is a labdane diterpenoid, obtainable from natural sources by methanol extraction of the roots of coleus forskoli. The chemical name of forskolin is 7-beta-acetoxy-8,13-epoxy-1-alpha,6-beta,9-alpha-trihydroxylabd-14-en-11-o ne. The synthesis of forskolin is reported by S. D. Blatt, B. S. Bhawa, H. Dornauer, N. J. de Souza, and H. W. Fehlhaber, Tetrahedron Letters (1977); and by N. J. de Souza, A. N. Dohadwalla, and J. Reden Med. Revs., vol. 3 (1983) pp. 201-219 and references cited therein. One commercial source of forskolin is Sigma Pharmaceutical Co., St. Louis, Mo. I believe that forskolin has not previously been used in vivo in the solubilized form described hereinafter.